Silly Rabbits

The Pope Lick Massacre #2

by Eric Butler

Long ago, the locals spoke openly about the Pope Lick Monster. “Half man, half goat, all ax,” they’d say in hushed tones to remind folks to avoid the woods. Those days are long past, but as the line of corpses flows from the woods, the whispers have begun again.
“The Goatman’s back, and these woods ain’t safe until the beast’s hunger is sated.”
But deep down they know the truth … it never will be.

237 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 31, 2023

About the author

I'm an indie Horror writer who lives deep in the heart of Texas. When I'm not writing novels and stories for anthologies, I'm doing the bidding of 3 adorable huskies. I've been married for over 20 years and have a teenager in the house, so I won't be running out of horror material for quite some time.

Reviews

[M Ennenbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eric stood outside my apartment for three days screaming that The Goatman was coming back. I eventually moved. And he found me again. Same thing. The Goatman is coming back to Pope Lick. Two restraining orders later, and I finally read the book. Half Man. Half Goat. All Sequel. The Ax is back, and it was worth the wait.

[D.W. Hitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

PLM2 continues the Goatman's thrilling bloodfest and delivers on both emotional terror and splatter-fueled mayhem. Highly recommend.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic sequel! Everything that was great about the first book is on full display here as well. The Goatman is one relentless nightmare of a creature and the slaughter is almost non-stop. I loved the pacing of the story and I was worried about so many characters and keeping them straight, but since so many get tossed into the proverbial "wood chipper" - no problem! So many garbage people get theirs and sometimes not at the hands of Goatman! This book is perfect for Halloween or for anybody in search of a great creature feature at any time of the year. I hope there are more of these coming!

[DA · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the first page you know you're in for a wild ride. This book is gory, but not over the top gory, there's just the right amount of blood and guts to let you know The Goatman isn't messing around. While this is a sequel, you don't need to have read the first one to enjoy this story in my opinion. Butler gives you just enough of a glimpse into who the characters are without overdoing their backstories, which is good because you shouldn't get attached to any of his characters.

[Shaun Filion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great addition to the Popelick and goat man lore. Loved it 🙌

[Kyle Richards · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly probably more of a 2.5, but rounding down cause I was rather disappointed overall. I found that it played up the aspects of the first book that I disliked at the expense of the good parts.

I think the first book struck a good balance of the cast being fairly likeable, which makes the hopelessness of the situation much more effective as things go wrong. Here, half of the cast are humorless cartoon villains who think only about drugs and rape (which incidentally, I thought the sexual violence in the first book was overdone, a trend which continues here). On one hand, that might make it more satisfying when they finally get what's coming to them, but the book doesn't really nail the catharsis that would have made it worthwhile.

While "humans are the real monsters" can be effective in some stories, I found myself wishing that there was more focus on the literal monster here, who ends up taking a backseat for a large chunk of the narrative to normal evil dudes with guns. I don't think a more character-driven plot is necessarily a bad thing, to be clear, but the characters didn't really feel compelling enough to sell it, and I found myself wishing that we learned more about the Goatman (or at least saw more of him). Most of the characters that I thought could be interesting either get written out fairly early or don't get explored, and the remaining characters feel flat, and especially in the case of the aforementioned evil dudes with guns, largely interchangeable. Even though the first book hews pretty closely to slasher/horror movie tropes, it felt fun in that book while this books end up feeling overly grim to the point of being boring.

While the book is just as gory as the first, I also felt like some of the deaths ended up feeling rather anticlimactic, especially towards the end. The first book has its share of sudden random deaths, but there it served to heighten the tension and build up a real sense of dread, which doesn't work as well here. There's a particular set of deaths where I had a strong sense of "wait, that's it?" because they came so suddenly and didn't even feel especially gory or interesting. It felt like the story just needed to make sure everyone was dead so it could get to the ending.

[Jason Nickey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rare sequel that surpasses its original. Butler knows how to do cryptids, and he knows how to bring the brutality!

[Kimberly Spookybookwurm · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Little rabbits shouldn't be out here all alone. It's not safe.”.

Every time I read one of Eric Butler's books, I have a new favorite of his. This has to be my favorite out of all the books I have read this summer!

WLKY is covering the recent massacre, but not everyone has heard the recent news.

Simon and his younger sister, April, are going out into the woods for a hike but run into some problems.
Scott and Amber are getting a weekend away to aid in Scott's recovery.
Terri is having her annual family camping trip before her daughter Harper goes away to college.

Do you hear the click-clack of the Goatman's hooves, too?

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

OH (GOAT) MAN! OH (GOAT) MAN!!

[Kimyona Dietter · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the beginning, I was hooked. I listened to this morsel during training at work (shhhh!). Mr. Butler "Game of Throne-ed" me the entire book. Every time I felt invested in a character, they met their demise. This book flowed well; fast paced, with well rounded characters, vivid descriptions that set the tone and setting of the story (I could even smell the filth and blood!), and a legendary being that haunts not only the characters, but also the reader.

I also enjoyed the interpretation of the book by the narrator. She was a great choice to take on all of the well developed roles. She I especially enjoyed her reading of Billy and his crew. I am still creeped out thinking about Mike, Lenny, and Tristan.

This was a definitely a fun time. I look forward to more misadventures and the suffering of anyone who might find their way in the tunnels of the Goat Man, but I will never go hiking again!

[Christina Eleanor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This gore fest is book two of the Pope Lick Massacre (PLM) story. I read PLM a few weeks ago and had to find out what happened next! Holy moly!

This book has more characters, more stories with those characters which means don’t get attached! The Goat Man is a’coming! The gore in this one is plentiful and I loved it.

Butler has mastered the creepiness factor in the creation of the Goat man character. Put it this way, I don’t ever wanna meet this character face to face. The suspense kept me turning pages and trepidation those characters went through I felt as well. This was just as good as the first book. I hope Eric Butler continues giving us additional stories related to or involving the Goat man! Go grab this and check it out!

[Sea Caummisar · Rating 5 out of 5]

My fingers were clenching my Kindle, anticipating what would happen next. All the folk lore from my teenage years became a book, haunting my sleep (and even awake times). I grew up in the area, and we used to taunt the Goatman, wishing he'd come out and mimic our voices. If I had read this book 25(+) years ago, I would have never taken the chance and left the Goatman alone. Never in my wildest dreams could I have dreamt he was so vicious

[Megan Stockton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric Butler's Goatman of Pope Lick is the most terrifying and impressive cryptid I've ever seen on paper, hands-down. I fell horns-over-heels for the Goatman in his first installment, then teased again with The Princess of Pope Lick, and I was chomping at the bit to get another book. Pope Lick Massacre 2 is a bold, gruesome sequel that satisfies you in all the right ways: the familiarity of our favorite hircine heathen and a fresh slew of worthy victims. I'm ready for another, Mr. Butler!

[S. Policar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sequel to The Pope Lick Massacre does have our favorite monstrous goat as often in it, but it's still a fast-paced gore-fest from the first chapter; though I will warn you, if you have SA triggers, you might want to leave this one alone. Silly Rabbits is a bit heavier in that department than the first book was.

I'll be looking for more from this author, and if you like horror, you should definitely check him out.

I give this book 5 of 5 Paws

[Jennifer Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the goat man. I wish there would have been even more of him in this book even though there was plenty! I love the gore and there are times where you can just smell his stench because the author describes it so perfectly. This one was just as good as the first and I didn’t want to put it down! I hope there’s more to come!

[Rayne Havok · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have one of those friends who's always trying to get you outside and into nature, this is the perfect gift for them. It doubles as a gift for you as well when they stop asking. The Goat Man is fucking creepy. Turn your lights on and tuck your feet under the covers, this one's gonna get ya.

[Martin Herrmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goatman is real

Book 2 of Pope Lick is another horror fest from Eric Butler. Just as a started to root for a character... slice .... Goatman appeared and did what Goatman does. But this was a fun read, and hoping for another book continuing this gory Goatman gala.

[grnbaypakrgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 3?

This is turning out to be one of my favorite series. I am completely invested in this story and NEED to know what happens next. Excellently written.